Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, New York University, New York, NY.AbstractOBJECTIVES:

This article attempts to cover pragmatic clinical considerations involved in the use of cannabinergic medicines in pain practice, including geographical and historical considerations, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, adverse effects, drug interactions, indications, and contraindications. Topics include molecular considerations such as the 10-fold greater abundance of cannabinoid type 1 receptors compared to µ-opioid receptors in the central nervous system and anatomic distributions of cannabinoid receptors in pain circuits.METHODS:

The article uses a narrative review methodology drawing from authoritative textbooks and journals of cannabinoid medicine, Food and Drug Administration-approved cannabinoid drug labels, and current and historical pain medicine literature to address core clinical considerations. To survey the current evidence base for pain management with cannabinergic medicines, a targeted PubMed search was performed to survey the percentage of positive and negative published randomized-controlled trial (RCT) results with this class of pain medicines, using appropriate search limit parameters and the keyword search string "cannabinoid OR cannabis-based AND pain."RESULTS:

Cannabis and other cannabinergic medicines' efficacies for relieving pain have been studied in RCTs, most of which have demonstrated a beneficial effect for this indication, although most trials are short-term. Adverse effects are generally nonserious and well tolerated. Incorporating cannabinergic medicine topics into pain medicine education seems warranted and continuing clinical research and empiric treatment trials are appropriate.

Alcohol, aspirin, and ibuprofen are also great pain releivers. Just say you want to get high. I can get behind that much quicker.

I don't partake in mmj in any form but I really wish that Obama would grow a pair, call this @55hat to the White House and tell him to either do what the President says or find another job.When the President comes out and says that his administration will not be prosecuting marijuana businesses if they are compliant with state law and then he has a U.S. Attorney sending out letters threatening to prosecute marijuana businesses that are in compliance with state laws then that President should do something about that U.S. Attorney.

johnDenver wrote:I don't partake in mmj in any form but I really wish that Obama would grow a pair, call this @55hat to the White House and tell him to either do what the President says or find another job.When the President comes out and says that his administration will not be prosecuting marijuana businesses if they are compliant with state law and then he has a U.S. Attorney sending out letters threatening to prosecute marijuana businesses that are in compliance with state laws then that President should do something about that U.S. Attorney.

I hate to say it, but the POTUS needs to get congress to change the laws, not just issue a administrative policy that carries no weight.

sheepdog wrote:Why would he need a medical license? He is a federal prosecutor, and MJ is illegal under federal law. He is doing his job that he took an oath to do. People that whine about him and federal law enforcement are barking up the tree. You should be trying to get the lawmakers to legalize MJ, then Walsh could focus elsewhere.

I have been an advocate for hemp and legalization for over 20 years. People are trying to change the federal government's stupid policy regarding marijuana and hemp. How have you missed this?

"the resources of the United States Attorney's Office should be focused elsewhere: on terrorism, serious economic crime, organized crime and serious drug dealing (involving significant amounts of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine)."

Do you disagree?

sheepdog wrote:I feel so duped, I voted for MMJ...never would have had I known it was going to turn into the con game it has evolved into. I hope full full recreational legalization so we can put the con artist "caregivers" out of business.

I'm sorry you didn't understand what you voted for. I am not sure why you feel duped. Why does it bother you? How does it effect you, besides helping the government's bottom line instead of illegal drug dealers?

You realize that there were only 24 dispensaries in 2009 before Obama sent out his famous memo?

johnDenver wrote:I don't partake in mmj in any form but I really wish that Obama would grow a pair, call this @55hat to the White House and tell him to either do what the President says or find another job.When the President comes out and says that his administration will not be prosecuting marijuana businesses if they are compliant with state law and then he has a U.S. Attorney sending out letters threatening to prosecute marijuana businesses that are in compliance with state laws then that President should do something about that U.S. Attorney.

I hate to say it, but the POTUS needs to get congress to change the laws, not just issue a administrative policy that carries no weight.

POTUS can, via executive order, change the law. US Constitution Article II, Section 1. However, if we actually look at the law, it's not Congress that has made it illegal, is it? Or is it just the DEA that is determining that MJ has no medicinal value?

Regardless, Article IV, Section 1 allows the States to enact their own laws, which the Federal Government must give "Full Faith and Credit ..." to. IMHO, Article IV trumps Article VI, but there is obviously a conflict between the two.

Medical professionals from all around the world are flocking to Tucson to earn their Continuing Education credits in Cannabis Therapeutics sanctioned and approved by the American Medical Association, and the American Nurses Association.

The general public is encouraged, and invited, to attend.

For all the naysayers, please visit the site, meet the Federal medical marijuana patients (Irvin Rosenfeld has received medical marijuana from the Federal government for 29+ years), and witness the science, and facts, about medical cannabis.

In closing, I ask this question:

Where did Mr. Walsh get his medical degree, and how long has he been practicing?

Why would he need a medical license? He is a federal prosecutor, and MJ is illegal under federal law. He is doing his job that he took an oath to do. People that whine about him and federal law enforcement are barking up the tree. You should be trying to get the lawmakers to legalize MJ, then Walsh could focus elsewhere.

I feel so duped, I voted for MMJ...never would have had I known it was going to turn into the con game it has evolved into. I hope full full recreational legalization so we can put the con artist "caregivers" out of business.

Why does the Federal Government distribute Marijuana?

One would figure Mr. Walsh could start in his own "house" before he goes abusing state authority and interfering in state constitutional amendments.

POINT - as long as the Federal Government is distributing medical marijuana to people in the United States - they have NO BUSINESS telling states what they can, and cannot do. WE as taxpayers have been paying for FEDERAL medical cannabis for over 35 years now. WE have. That is....if you pay Federal taxes.

End the hypocrisy.....and the lies.

As far as folks professing it's a front for recreational use - PM me - I will give you my phone number and introduce you to hundreds of legitimate patients.

If you actually have a condition that benefits from marijuana consumption, you're a part of a small minority.

If you don't believe that the current medicial marijuana system in Colorado is a front for recreational use, you're delusional.

If you believe medical users are a minority, cite credible proof.

People "abuse" all sorts of drugs, from prescription painkillers to over-the-counter cold medicine. Some even "huff" paint for a dangerous high. I don't believe there is any difference with people who abuse the mmj system.

Let me be clear: I do not believe the mmj system is a front for recreational use.

Last edited by Sans Flangi on March 28th, 2012, 10:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Crime has decreased since retail marijuana was legalized, but the Denver Post won't tell you because it interferes with their prohibitionist propaganda.

Sans Flangi wrote:As more states legalize marijuana, the federal government will have to end their unconstitutional prohibition. The 50-year drug war has failed.

Agreed, but that is up to the law MAKERS, not the US attorney who only enforces/prosecutes the laws put on the books. I find it comical that people whine that the man is doing his job. I want full recreational legalization (and I don't smoke), but know that whining about people doing their job is not the way to achieve that.

I didn't say anything about Mr. Walsh, nor did I whine.

It took an amendment to the constitution to outlaw alcohol. Why is marijana different?

Crime has decreased since retail marijuana was legalized, but the Denver Post won't tell you because it interferes with their prohibitionist propaganda.

If you actually have a condition that benefits from marijuana consumption, you're a part of a small minority.

If you don't believe that the current medicial marijuana system in Colorado is a front for recreational use, you're delusional.

Even if it is a front for recreational use, WHY DO YOU CARE????? We live in a country founded on LIBERTY. Maybe you should get a dictionary and look up the definition of LIBERTY. I just don't get why people like you are so interested in controlling the behavior of other people. What other people chose to injest IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!! How does me sitting at home smoking a J infring on your rights??? The answer is IT DOESN'T!!! MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS!!!!

One of those rare occasions when I agree with you Vincent. But it is more than the Fed meddling with state affairs. It is the insanity around this whole issue of marijuana. Drug addiction is a disease - NOT a crime and so we should stop the 'war against drugs' and spend all those Billions of dollars saved in treating this disease - by investing in people and communities.

sheepdog wrote:He is a federal prosecutor, and MJ is illegal under federal law. He is doing his job that he took an oath to do. People that whine about him and federal law enforcement are barking up the tree. You should be trying to get the lawmakers to legalize MJ, then Walsh could focus elsewhere.

As enraging as this crackdown is, it may prove beneficial in the long run. As a preliminary step towards states legalizing pot for general consumption, the federal marijuana laws must, and eventually will be repealed.

A large majority of Colorado voters will resent the U.S. Attorney's interference with state and local laws. This will necessarily result in increased pressure on our national legislators to reign in this oppressive federal interference. Perhaps a bill to exempt medical marijuana from federal law will come first, but eventually the federal prohibition will be lifted.

What this U.S. Atturkey is doing is actually helping bring this about. We just need a few more of these old farts in congress to retire or die.

TheSkullman wrote:I'm with the Feds on this one. If I was one of them, I wouldn't want to spend my day chasing scary organized crime types; people who have guns and aren't afraid to fight back when you try to arrest them. No, I would want to chase some middle-class person who has never been to jail and probably wets himself at the prospect. That way, I could make to my retirement (at 55 from what I've read) without having to face the real bad guys.I'm with you John.

And you don't have to do any of that pesky, time-consuming investigative work. Just look at the back of Westword where all the terrible child-corrupting, society-destroying criminals are advertising their wares. It does sound like good work, if you can get it.

johnDenver wrote:I don't partake in mmj in any form but I really wish that Obama would grow a pair, call this @55hat to the White House and tell him to either do what the President says or find another job.When the President comes out and says that his administration will not be prosecuting marijuana businesses if they are compliant with state law and then he has a U.S. Attorney sending out letters threatening to prosecute marijuana businesses that are in compliance with state laws then that President should do something about that U.S. Attorney.

I hate to say it, but the POTUS needs to get congress to change the laws, not just issue a administrative policy that carries no weight.

POTUS can, via executive order, change the law. US Constitution Article II, Section 1. However, if we actually look at the law, it's not Congress that has made it illegal, is it? Or is it just the DEA that is determining that MJ has no medicinal value?

Regardless, Article IV, Section 1 allows the States to enact their own laws, which the Federal Government must give "Full Faith and Credit ..." to. IMHO, Article IV trumps Article VI, but there is obviously a conflict between the two.

Legal precedent of the last 200+ years has shown that Federal law trumps State law in many if not most cases. For instance, a state cannot make it legal to own another human being.

Quite Frankly wrote:So I assume Mr. Carroll opposes the Federal government suing Az over 1070? I mean in that case the Great State of Arizona seeks to help the federal government enforce it's own laws rather than ignoring them in the case of MMJ.

Frankly, Quite Frankly, your analogy merely proves you don't know what you are talking about. Article I, section 8, paragraph 4 of the federal constitution you right-wingers are so fond of misrepresenting gives exclusive authority to the national congress to regulate immigration. There is no exemption for border states or ports of entry. The Arizona law also violates the Due Process clauses of the 5th and 14th amendments, two other constitutional provisions conservatives like to pretend don't exist.

While the Supreme Court upheld congress' authority to regulate medical marijuana as a valid exercise of its Commerce Clause power, the case (Gonzalez v. Raich) was very weakly reasoned. Scalia based his opinion on speculative grounds without the support of any evidence in the record.

The case also demonstrated the hypocrisy of the Commerce Clause jurisprudence of the conservative wing of the Court which struck down provisions of the VAWA despite a detailed congressional record of interstate commerce implications, as well as the Lopez school gun case which also was supported by substantial congressional findings of impact on interstate commerce. There were no such findings in Raich.

All you conservative constitutional "patriots" seem to think the constitution only stands for those things that make you feel superior.

And a note to brendilon: You're right, but precedent has little to do with it. See Article VI, paragraph 2, the Supremacy Clause.

Liberal media? A reflexive excuse for conservatives to ignore information that contradicts their myopic world view.

Sans Flangi wrote:As more states legalize marijuana, the federal government will have to end their unconstitutional prohibition. The 50-year drug war has failed.

Agreed, but that is up to the law MAKERS, not the US attorney who only enforces/prosecutes the laws put on the books. I find it comical that people whine that the man is doing his job. I want full recreational legalization (and I don't smoke), but know that whining about people doing their job is not the way to achieve that.

Simply having a power does not mean it should be exercised. And actually, raising a ruckus over this U.S. Attorney "doing his job" is the way to achieve legalization. It shines the spotlight directly on the oppressive federal marijuana laws.

Liberal media? A reflexive excuse for conservatives to ignore information that contradicts their myopic world view.

Sans Flangi wrote:As more states legalize marijuana, the federal government will have to end their unconstitutional prohibition. The 50-year drug war has failed.

The Constitution has a provision for marijuana use???

Who knew? When?

Perhapes you can provide a cite.

Obama understands his constituents perfectly. They don't care what he does to the Constitution, the economy or his "enemies," as long as he provides them with gay marriage, legalized weed and a recharged EBT card the first of every month.

Nicon wrote:John Walsh needs to find something better to do. Since his first day in office he has had an army of Federal investigators measuring the distances between MMJ centers and schools like local city zoning regulators. Is checking to see if this Marijuana store is 980 feet from CU or 1020 feet really worth the time it takes to check? IS there honestly nothing more serious to deal with before we get to the pot stores?

Pretending this has anything to do with children is laughable, stop lying John, just stand up and tell the truth. Your going to close down all 700+ if you can, but your going to start by chipping away 25 or so at a time. We get it, heck it's even part of your job. Why the lie?

Colorado can tell John to pack up and go close business elsewhere in November with a big YES vote for Legalization in the Fall.

We have lots of problems in Colorado right now, can we stop with the reefer madness and get to work on something that kills?

Like it or not, marijuana use is still a violation of Fedral law. Mr. Walsh, as a Federal Law Enforcemnet Officer, has a duty to enforce the law.

If you don't like that then change the Federal law.

Obama understands his constituents perfectly. They don't care what he does to the Constitution, the economy or his "enemies," as long as he provides them with gay marriage, legalized weed and a recharged EBT card the first of every month.

TheSkullman wrote:I'm with the Feds on this one. If I was one of them, I wouldn't want to spend my day chasing scary organized crime types; people who have guns and aren't afraid to fight back when you try to arrest them. No, I would want to chase some middle-class person who has never been to jail and probably wets himself at the prospect. That way, I could make to my retirement (at 55 from what I've read) without having to face the real bad guys.I'm with you John.

And you don't have to do any of that pesky, time-consuming investigative work. Just look at the back of Westword where all the terrible child-corrupting, society-destroying criminals are advertising their wares. It does sound like good work, if you can get it.

If you break the law in front of law enforcement officials and witnesses how can you expect them to ignore it?

Obama understands his constituents perfectly. They don't care what he does to the Constitution, the economy or his "enemies," as long as he provides them with gay marriage, legalized weed and a recharged EBT card the first of every month.

Sans Flangi wrote:As more states legalize marijuana, the federal government will have to end their unconstitutional prohibition. The 50-year drug war has failed.

The Constitution has a provision for marijuana use???

Who knew? When?

Perhapes you can provide a cite.

Congress has the ability to regulate commerce between the states. Nowhere does Congress have the ability to ban substances on a nationwide level. It took an amendment to the Constitution to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol, so why is marajuana treated differently? The Supreme Court upheld Congress' twisted use of the commerce clause to justify a ban, but what the Supreme Court upholds one day, such as slavery, segregation, contraception, school prayer, and so on, it can overturn the next.

If you can find a section within the Constitution which allows the federal government to assume powers which are not expressly granted it, let me know.

Crime has decreased since retail marijuana was legalized, but the Denver Post won't tell you because it interferes with their prohibitionist propaganda.